Where Are Consumers Most Comfortable Shopping?
If you’re wondering how much time to devote to ensuring your website is mobile friendly, consider who your target audience is first. If the consumers you’re targeting are older, make sure your website is easy to navigate, because this report showed that 80 percent of Traditionalists (born between 1922 and 1945) prefer to shop from a desk. This means they’re likely using a desktop or laptop to shop, rather than a phone or tablet.
On the other hand, Millennials are more likely to shop from more comfortable spots. About 47 percent of the respondents from this generation said they prefer to shop from the couch, though about 20 percent like to shop from bed. So be sure your site is mobile friendly if you plan to market to Millennials, because there’s a good chance they’re using mobile devices for online shopping. Of course, after Mobilegeddon, your site should ideally be mobile friendly regardless of your audience!
How Should You Communicate with Consumers?
One detail to note is that many older shoppers still prefer to interact with brands in person whenever possible. In fact, 73 percent of Traditionalists and 67 percent of Baby Boomers like to have in-store interactions. Meanwhile, 66 percent of Generation X and 64 percent of Millennials prefer to interact with brands online.
As you plan your online interactions with customers, keep in mind they’re happy to receive emails from brands…just not too often. Campaigner found 44 percent of consumers are willing to open emails from brands, but almost half said their biggest issue is brands sending them too many emails. Millennials in particular like to get emails from brands, as 22 percent said they’re “very likely” to read them, which is more than the older generations surveyed in this report.
Social media is slightly less popular as a mode of communicating with brands, as just 24 percent said they interact with businesses this way. When they do, it’s usually on Facebook–surprise, surprise!–as 54 percent interact with brands there. The other popular social networks include:
- Pinterest – 18 percent
- Instagram – 18 percent
- LinkedIn – 9 percent
- Snapchat – 5 percent
- Twitter – 3 percent
So, what should you send your target audience when you interact over email or social media? Well, that depends on their age. Apparently, the younger generations appreciate discounts more than older shoppers. About 80 percent of Millennials and 75 percent of Generation X enjoy coupons and sales, compared to 64 percent of Baby Boomers and 56 percent of Traditionalists. Granted, that’s still a lot of shoppers who like to save money, so feel free to send the occasional coupon code or promote your sales on social media regardless of the age of your audience.
Do you market to multiple generations? Have you noticed that older and younger consumers have different preferences when it comes to online shopping and interacting with your brand? Check out Campaigner’s survey infographic and let us know what you think!
This article was first published on The Marketing Scope.